Wells Fargo Gives $100K to Cleantech to Market Program

Cleantech to Market, an interdisciplinary program in the Haas School of Business' Energy Institute, has received a $100,000 philanthropic grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation. The grant is part of a $2 million Wells Fargo Clean Technology and Innovation program supporting technology advancements for a clean energy future.

"We are excited to be a recipient of this highly competitive Wells Fargo environmental grant," says Brian Steel, Cleantech to Market co-director. "We truly appreciate being recognized and will use this grant to provide campus researchers with more commercialization support to aid their efforts to develop environmentally beneficial technologies, while at the same time developing the next generation of innovative and effective cleantech leaders."

Cleantech to Market (C2M) is an experiential MBA course that applies the Haas School’s innovative leader curriculum to identify and evaluate commercialization paths for high-potential research. Each year, C2M accepts Berkeley MBA students and students from more than 20 graduate programs across the UC Berkeley campus, including the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who are working on research related to climate change, such as low-carbon energy, water, and green chemistry. Each C2M project team performs 1,000 hours of market research to help align technical research with pressing environmental and market needs.

Funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation, the Wells Fargo Clean Technology and Innovation grant program began in 2012 as part of Wells Fargo's commitment to provide $100 million to environmentally focused nonprofits, colleges, and universities by 2020. The goal of the program is to inspire innovation from entrepreneurs and fund research entities working on critical environmental issues.

"Wells Fargo recognizes that the health of our environment is critical to fostering more sustainable communities today and for years to come," says Ashley Grosh, head of Wells Fargo Environmental Affairs Clean Technology program. "We're pleased to announce Cleantech to Market as a recipient of Wells Fargo's environmental grant program to help provide long-term solutions to the world's greatest environmental challenges."